


Unreal

by pinkpastels113



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Confessions, Drama & Romance, Dreams, F/F, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Light Angst, Pining, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-19 04:29:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29993907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkpastels113/pseuds/pinkpastels113
Summary: "Beca hates dreams. She hates them because they aren't like music. Because they aren't like anything she can control. Because—above everything else— they are not freaking real."B/C. Multi-chap. Smut.
Relationships: Chloe Beale/Beca Mitchell
Kudos: 56





	1. Chapter 1

Beca hates dreams.

She hates them because they take away the time she needs to spend being productive, the time she needs to keep up with schoolwork so she won't get kicked out of college and the time she needs to hash out mixes for the Bellas as well as her internship.

She hates them because she can't figure them out, because she can't see the purpose and the wavelengths and the places where everything synchronizes.

She hates them because they aren't like music.

Because they aren't like anything she can control.

Because they involve _her._

* * *

"Fuck this shit."

Beca threw her pencil down in frustration and dragged her hands down her face, groaning and glaring at the stupid English assignment in front of her covered in her crossed out scrawls. She closed her eyes as another wave of frustration hit her and breathed in deep, lifting her shoulders and dramatically dropping them down on a big sigh.

_Breathe, Mitchell, breathe. Remember, you have to do this so you don't completely flunk this class, no matter how useless and goddamn annoying it is, so you don't get kicked out of Barden and therefore the Bellas._

Deciding her pathetic self pep talk isn't going to kick her ass into gear, Beca whirled her chair around and stomped to her nightstand. She yanked out a drawer and stuck a hand in, and once she felt her fingers wrap around a small wrapper, she smiled and took it out, immediately starting to unwrap it.

Once her mouth closed around the revealed object and rich sweetness started to melt on her tongue, Beca allowed herself a small satisfied sigh and threw herself—face-planted, really—down heavily on her bed, sprawling her limbs out while taking care not to let her hand touch her sheets. She turned her head to one side so as to not suffocate herself and closed her eyes, savoring the way the richness seemed to wash everything away, including her previous negative thoughts about her homework.

"Beca?"

Beca jerked up and almost choked in her haste to swallow as she took in the sight of Chloe leaning against her door. She coughed and whipped her hand behind her back as Chloe's eyes drifted down, pretending not to notice anything when her head tilted to the side in question. "Chloe," she wheezed out once she was sure she wasn't dying, "What's up?"

"Not much…," Chloe said, drawing her words out as her searching blue eyes drifted back up to her face. Then they widened slightly as if she noticed something, and her expression shifts to one that Beca recognizes is her _I'm gonna tease the shit out of Beca_ face, and she knows that she's fucking screwed.

Beca started to reach her other hand up to see what was on her face that had caught Chloe's attention, but then the redhead is smirking and crossing her arms and pushing herself off her door frame, and Beca is suddenly distracted with the sway of her hips and the new revealed hint of skin on her chest. Her heart started to pound in her chest and she hoped to god that her face isn't as flushed as she thinks it is.

Chloe came to a stop at the foot of the bed, directly in front of her, and brought her face inches away from Beca's, as she was so prone to do since that initiation night that seemed so long ago. Her sweet vanilla candy perfume surrounded Beca's senses and in an attempt to breathe that intoxicating scent in as little as possible lest she loses it and lunges forward to bury her nose into Chloe's neck, she sucked in a breath through her mouth.

"Looks like _you're_ up to something though, Mitchell," Chloe whispers, in continuation of her response to Beca's question.

"M-Me?" Beca stammers out, because her heart is in her throat and Chloe's too damn close and her lips are right _there,_ "What're you talking about, Chlo, I'm not doing anything." She knows it's useless but damn it, fake it till you make it, right?

Chloe chuckles, and shakes her head at her in amused exasperation. Beca had to clench her fists to resist reaching out and twirling a finger through those ginger locks. Her sparkling blue eyes held Beca's captive as her hands came down on either side of her, and then her head is coming down down _down_ and her forehead is touching hers and Beca literally can't breathe or move and she's thinking that it's okay if she dies right there and then if the last thing she feels is Chloe's skin on hers and Chloe's electric blues boring into hers.

_Thump, thump, thump…_

"Chloe, what are you-", but she was cut off because Chloe's tongue is licking the side of her mouth and all the blood is draining from her brain and she's feeling lightheaded. She gasped and Chloe took that opportunity to snatch the wrapper out of her hand but that's okay because she's too weak to snatch it back.

When Beca opened the eyes that she wasn't even aware were closed, she was on her elbows and Chloe's grinning slyly down at her, an eyebrow raised and a hand holding up her prize. "White chocolate? Didn't know you had such a sweet tooth, Bec," she smirked.

Beca feels her face go hot and she averts her eyes, but it ends up being a bad idea because her gaze ends up down Chloe's shirt and she's seeing the top of a black lace bra. She bites back a groan and quickly snaps her eyes back up, but she wasn't fast enough and now Chloe's grinning wider and straddling her waist. "I like a lot of things sweet, Beale, you just don't know it yet."

"Oh yeah, like what?", she breathes in Beca's ear, hands sliding up the bed and pushing Beca's elbows until the brunette is lying completely flat under her.

"Like…", Beca scrambled for something to say, but that stupid candy scent is overwhelming her again and before she knew it, she's blurted it out. "Like you."

Chloe stopped placing feather light kisses on her ear and breathed out a laugh. "What?"

Beca sent up a mental _screw it_ , and leaned forward to bury her head in her neck, exactly like how she refrained herself from doing earlier. She took a deep breath until all the nerve endings in her body practically sang with the overstimulation of that sweet sweet smell and puffed out a contented sigh, her entire body relaxing and shuddering in uncontained excitement at the same time. "Yeah," she mumbled, one hand coming up to push some red locks out of the way so she can press a kiss to her soft skin, "you smell like a fucking bakery."

Chloe pulled back and her eyes twinkled like stars as she gazed down at her. Her fingers trailed down to the hem of her shirt and traced her hip bone, almost subconsciously, making Beca draw in a sharp breath. "A bakery?," she snickered, biting her lip to hold back a giggle, "I've never heard that one before."

Beca rolled her eyes but she can feel a smile threatening to split her face in two. "Shut up, you're making me feel like one of those girls in one of Jesse's stupid movies."

Chloe failed to hold back her laugh this time and her head tilted back in her mirth, causing her red hair to spill over one silky smooth shoulder. Beca couldn't help herself and pulled that enticing shoulder down, so she can taste it with her tongue. Chloe sighed and pressed her hips down, and if possible, Beca's heart pounded harder, racing a marathon against her ribcage.

One of Chloe's hands went to Beca's hair to press her closer, the other holding them up against her bed. She lets out a soft moan when Beca tugged her skin between her teeth and sucked, and grinded herself harder against the brunette. It's Beca's turn now to chuckle and her fingers flew up to unbutton Chloe's shirt, dragging her mouth down every new bit of skin it uncovered.

Chloe shook the shirt off once Beca reached her stomach and sat up to do the same to hers. Beca grinned up at her as she felt Chloe's hands shake as she spread apart her flannel and chuckled when she heard a huff in realization that she had a black tank top underneath. In spite of the wave of desire short-circuiting her brain, she still found it in her to be amused at Chloe's pout. "Jeez, didn't know you were so impatient, Chlo," she mocked the redhead's earlier tone.

That caused something to flare darkly in her eyes, and before Beca knew what was happening, Chloe's mouth was crashing down on hers and her tank top was being shoved over her head. Beca gasped when Chloe bit down hard on her bottom lip, and she tilted her head so the kiss went deeper. Their tongues tangled hotly and desperately and their moans melded together, creating a perfect harmony.

Beca's hands slid up to undo Chloe's bra and felt hers jump down to the zipper of her jeans. She tossed the garment aside, hearing a crash but giving zero fucks. She pulled her mouth away and licked a path down Chloe's jaw and throat, smirking when a whimper vibrated against her lips. She felt fingers succeed in tugging down her zipper and bucked her hips teasingly when they cupped her between her thighs.

Her mouth reached the valley of Chloe's chest and she's closing her mouth around her, and Chloe's panting her name and brushing her hand under the waistband of her soaked underwear…

* * *

Beca sprang up and gasped for breath, struggling to adjust her eyes to her disorienting surroundings and running a hand through her hair, cringing when she feels it stick to her sweaty neck. Her blurry vision cleared, and Beca sighed when she realized she's in her bedroom and her clock is showing that it's 6 in the morning.

She throws her head back and stares blankly at the ceiling, trying to get her heartbeat under control and trying to ignore the uncomfortable slickness between her legs.

And that is why Beca hates dreams.

She hates them because they leave her hot and sweaty first thing in the morning, because they leave her alone and longing for her touch, because they force her to either jump in an ice cold shower or finish the business herself, in order to release the pent up tension refusing to fade away.

She hates them because they leave searing memories in her mind, threatening to play before her eyes all day long like some glitching video over and over again whenever it's not distracted with something else and whenever her eyes catches sight of _her._

She hates them because- above everything else- they are not fucking _real._

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

Beca sighed as she stepped over the threshold of the Bella House and closed the door behind her, pulling her headphones from her ears and cranking her head to the sides to relieve the crick in her neck.

She had taken to wearing them around campus wherever she goes, even when there's no music in them, to ward off unwelcome company that had only seemed to grow more evermore frequent lately, due to her involvement in leading the Bellas to the ICCAs last year.

Like, seriously, can't a girl go to the bathroom in peace without some weirdo tagging along and pestering her for her ideas for the next Bella performance through a bathroom stall?

Beca sighed again as she twirled her headphones in one hand, making for the staircase leading up to her room upstairs where she intended to procrastinate on her assignments for the day and work on some new mixes. As her feet made their way through the living room, however, a figure sitting on the couch caught her eye. She stopped and looked over, and a smile broke across her face as crystal blue eyes winked at her. She laughed and shook her head amusedly as she changed her route, sliding her bag down her shoulders before setting in on the floor next to the coffee table and coming to a stop in front of the couch.

"Whatcha doin' here, Beale?"

Chloe grinned up at her. "Class ended early today so I thought I should take advantage of the rare opportunity and enjoy your _awesome_ company before everyone else comes home and tries to steal you away," she replied, adding another wink.

Beca rolled her eyes at that but she knew she was grinning back. "That's a shame, Chlo, because you should've taken the-", she air quoted the next words, "'rare opportunity' and gotten that essay you were complaining about earlier done before everyone else comes back and drag us to a party or something."

"Yeah, well, I started thinking about you during the last few minutes of class, so even if I tried to do that and went to the library, there was no way I was gonna get anything remotely productive done anyway."

The retort Beca had ready on the tip of her tongue died as the meaning behind the redhead's words settled around her. She frowned in confusion and crossed her arms, headphones dangling from a finger as she shifted her weight onto one foot to tilt her head at her. "Thinking about me? Why would you be thinking about me in the middle of class?"

Chloe bit her lip and reached for the brunette's hands, pulling her forward, and before Beca knew what was happening, she's perched in the redhead's lap. Mascara covered eyelashes fluttered as Chloe leaned in and brushed their noses together. "You really wanna know, Becs?"

Beca's breath hitched and was unable to move, even as Chloe plucked her precious headphones out of her hands and tossed them gently to the side.

Chloe's always been like this, touching her and getting too close and flirting with her, so Beca supposes that it shouldn't have been a surprise that- yet again- she is unexpectedly in another one of those situations where she couldn't breathe or move or speak while those mesmerizing blue eyes blinked slowly at her inches away from her face.

She doesn't mind it, not really, she actually quite enjoys it if she's being completely honest with herself, but why does it have to be so goddamn _often?_

Beca swallowed as Chloe's eyes did yet another one of those slow blinks, and opened her mouth to say something, _anything,_ to break the thick tension between them. "Um, I- you can't- I don't-", she stammered, blushing furiously as she attempted to form words that varied outside the vocabulary bank of a kindergartener.

Chloe can't help but smirk at the brunette's inability to form coherent sentences. She slid her hands languidly up the sides of Beca's legs until she reached her hips, at which her thumbs slid under the brunette's shirt to trace twin circles on her hip bones before adjusting themselves to wrap the rest of her fingers around her waist to pull their bodies flush together. She brought her nose down and traced the line of Beca's jaw before bringing it up the side of her neck and nuzzling behind an ear. "I was thinking about you and I," she whispered, smirk growing wider when Beca shuddered at the feel of her breath on a particularly sensitive patch of skin. "Thinking about doing this with you," she continued, pressing a light kiss to said patch, "- and this," she added, grinding their adjoined hips gently together.

Beca's heart pounded unhealthily hard and fast in her chest, and she closed her eyes and gasped when another kiss was ghosted behind her ear. Her hands clenched into fists on the couch and she found herself wrapping her legs around Chloe and pressing the part of her that's starting to ache for physical contact flat against her tight stomach.

Chloe's strand of light chaste kisses strayed from Beca's ear to her cheek, planting a succession of three rapid fire ones on her flushing skin before hovering over the brunette's mouth. "And _especially_ this," she breathed, eyes hooded as her gaze lingered on Beca's lips before tipping forward and covering them with her own.

Beca immediately kissed her back, slanting her mouth over hers and sighing softly as her hands flew up into the messy red curls tickling her face. She pushed her fingers through the hair that she's constantly thinking about and scraped her fingernails lightly against Chloe's scalp, reveling in the contented hum she received against her lips in response.

Beca loves Chloe's ginger locks and how they perfectly matched her explosive and bright personality. Loves how they stood out like a beacon in every room they're in, loves how they brightened up the world and brought a little color to her life. Even before she realized she's in love with her bubbly best friend and not Jesse, she had always thought about touching them and wondered what they would look like tangling and slipping through her fingers. Wondered about how they would feel, if it is as soft or smells as good as it looks.

Beca knows that this is a dream because there is no way that her hair's this silky, no way that it fits this perfectly in her small hands, no way that it smells like strawberries and intermingles flawlessly with her already sweet vanilla candy perfume, further sealing her fate to her hopeless secret addiction of everything sweet and bakery related.

No way that it is exactly as she had always imagined it would be, because there was no way that for once in her life, everything is perfect and going as planned.

She pulled away from the kiss and breathed heavily when Chloe pouted in protest before automatically leaning forward in search of a continuation. She dodged just in time and Chloe ended up pecking the corner of her mouth. "This is a dream, right?", she asked, her voice choppy in her haste to gulp down much needed oxygen.

Chloe giggled and raised an eyebrow up at her. "I don't know, Becs, you tell me," she said, her hands beginning to sneak under Beca's shirt and up her spine.

Beca frowned and looked down at her, contemplating the redhead's response for a split second before common sense kicks in and _duh, of course this is a dream, they haven't even talked about any of this and she would've had a heart attack if there was any indication in real life that Chloe reciprocated her feelings that went waayy beyond casual friendship and there was no fucking way Chloe would just say that she was thinking about her in_ that _way in class outta the blue like that._ "Yep, this is totally a fucking dream," Beca concluded.

"And what if it is?"

Beca pulled her hands out of the redhead's in favor of running them through her own in frustration at yet another comment that left her feeling confused. "What do you mean, 'what if it is?' This is a fucking dream, Beale; I'm asleep and fucking dreaming. This isn't _real."_

"If this isn't real then what are you so afraid of?," Chloe questioned calmly and patiently, "If this isn't real, then what's stopping you? What's stopping you from doing something that you wouldn't do if this _is_ real?"

Beca stared dumbly down into sparkling blue pools, her mind drawing a complete blank at the questions. It's like she's back outside and wearing her headphones, and the questions that Chloe is throwing at her are just dull background noise that doesn't _register_ in her brain. "Huh? Dude, what are you talking about?"

Chloe sighed and reached her hands around to cup Beca's cheeks. Beca tried not to shake them off as her cheeks squeezed together like a fish. Her heart's still pounding like crazy and she just wishes it would _stop_ so she can fucking _think_.

But she also wishes it _never_ stops because that would mean that this- whatever it is- would be over, and that is one thing she is absolutely one hundred percent certain she does _not_ want.

"Beca," Chloe says in a serious tone, and the brunette knows that whatever she's gonna say next is gonna be important, "This is a dream, a _fantasy,_ and that means you can do whatever you want. There's no reason to stop yourself." Then she bit her lip and her eyes darkened, and something clicked in Beca just then and she _got_ it, right before the words "No reason at all."

Beca groaned and crashed their lips together, and this time, the kiss is a complete black to the earlier white, dark and desperate and consuming, and Beca's growling low in her throat and helping Chloe pull at their clothes until both of them are shirtless and Beca's crouching between the redhead's open thighs, smirking slyly up at her while her hands made quick work of the buttons and zipper of her shorts. She slowly slid the material down Chloe's long pale legs, maintaining eye contact the whole time, and loving the way the older women seemed to hold her breath in anticipation and the way her hands twitched next to her as if she wants desperately to touch her, to speed Beca up, but forcing herself to hold back and taking every ounce of her self-control to do so.

Beca tossed the shorts behind her, adding it to the list of haphazard articles of clothing undoubtedly scattered around the room, and paused for a brief moment before leaning up and kissing the redhead once more. Her tongue coaxed the soft pink lips to allow her entrance, and she moaned softly when it slid lazily on top of Chloe's, causing her to gasp and pull sharply away and tell her to "Hurry up, Becs. Please."

Beca trailed her mouth down the front of Chloe's neck, pressing hot and wet open-mouthed kisses on sporadic intervals on the heated skin while her fingers hooked into the waistband of Chloe's panties and dragged them down the same way as she did her shorts, and she latched onto Chloe's pulse point and sucked hard when the thin material finally made it past Chloe's feet. Her hands immediately went up to cup the revealed bundle of nerves and she grinned when Chloe's "oh my god" vibrated against her lips.

"Nope, just me," she joked, laughing as Chloe playfully shoved at her shoulder.

She'd always wanted to say that, especially when it's in response to a certain ginger locked woman when she learned that it's her go-to phrase for whenever she's jumping with excitement and too out of breath to squeal.

And now that— as the woman herself had so eloquently pointed out— there's no reason for Beca to hold herself back since all of this is a damn _dream,_ why the hell not?

Beca placed a final kiss to Chloe's throat and settled back on her knees. She nudged Chloe's legs wider with her hands and shuffled closer. She looked up at her, raising her eyebrows cockily in an obvious silent signal to _get ready_ before her mouth closed around the warm flesh begging for her attention.

Chloe cried out and her self-control snapped as her hands twisted themselves into Beca's hair and shoved her impossibly closer while her hips bucked of their own accord. Beca groaned at the sudden action and moved her mouth up to lick tentatively at Chloe's clit, all the while massaging the trembling skin at the apex of Chloe's thighs and listening to her laboring breathing peppered with pants of Beca's name.

Beca looked up once more, this time through her lashes seeing as her lips are occupied and she's refusing to stop her ministrations whatsoever—not with the arousing sounds Chloe is making—and her eyes met the glorious sight of parted soft pink lips and dazed eyes dilated twilight blue with desire and blushing pink cheeks and tumbling red hair and _fuck,_ her heart's expanding in her chest like a hot air balloon and her brain's pounding _Chloe, Chloe, Chloe_ , making her dizzy with the intensely of the repetition of the one word. She flattened her tongue on Chloe's clit and dragged it deliberately up and down lightly through the wet folds, and she felt her own desire pool low in her belly as she watched Chloe close her eyes and let out a choked moan, pulling desperately at her hair for something she clearly doesn't have the ability to voice, and Beca had to reach down and tug down the zipper of her jeans to let in some cool air before the heat becomes too much and combusts inside her.

Her hands went around to Chloe's ass and lifted her up, settling the redhead's legs on her shoulders, causing her to yelp and withdraw her fingers from Beca's hair in favor of balancing herself on the couch cushions, lest she fall over and send them both crashing to the ground. The new position allowed Beca to grind her mouth down in a hard and relentless rhythm and her tongue to thrust deep inside her, and it only takes a couple seconds before Chloe's walls are shuddering around her and the room is filling with Chloe's strangled string of curses as she arched her back and clawed helplessly at the fabric of the couch.

Beca hummed and gradually slowed her pace until the woman in her arms came down from her high and she gently settled Chloe's feet back on the floor before leaning back on her hands and grinning smugly. She wiped her mouth on the inside of her arm and crossed her still jean-clad legs casually one over the other while Chloe sprawled out awkwardly—one arm dangling over the arm of the couch while the other laid to the side at a weird 90 degree angle—and heaved her chest in an effort to regain her breath. Beca chuckled as her gaze landed on the blue bra that she didn't get a chance to remove from the redhead's glistening body, and she bit back a full on laugh when said redhead glared reproachfully down at her.

Once Chloe was able to breathe properly again, she pushed her hair away from her face and sat up, and furrowed her brows at the smug brunette before launching herself on top of her and pulling her in for another kiss. She suckled Beca's bottom lip between hers before murmuring seductively, "Your turn now, Mitchell."

"Chloe…"

* * *

"Beca? _Beca!_ "

Beca leaped up at the sound of her name and bumped her head hard against something very _very_ solid and blonde. " _Ow,_ " she groaned, rubbing the sore spot and glaring at the offending object— _person._ "What the hell, dude?"

Fat Amy glared right back and rubbed her own forehead. "Aw, shut up, Shawshank, I got bulldozed too," she said with a frown, which quickly brightened into a grin at her next words, "'Cause you were too busy thinking about 'Chloe'", she continued, moaning the co-captain's name and snickering when Beca immediately turned red.

Beca yanked the pillow that she had been sleeping on and whacked it in Fat Amy's face. "For fucks sake, Fat Amy," she hissed as she repeatedly attacked her friend while her face burned with embarrassment, "can you be _any_ louder? I don't think the Bellas in the kitchen downstairs can hear you."

Fat Amy is the only person in the Bellas who knows of Beca's deal with her best friend, including the more recent dreams that are getting more and more frequent and more and more...graphic… the longer it went on and the longer Beca tried to suppress her emotions and reactions to the redhead who's constantly finding new ways to invade her personal space and constantly oblivious to her lingering stares at her ass and revealed skin during rehearsals.

At least, Fat Amy's the only one that _Beca_ knows who knows about her deal with Chloe, she really can't say much for the other Bellas, but she had a sneaking suspicion that they all—except for Chloe—think something is up between the two.

Fat Amy grabbed the pillow out of Beca's hands and threw it clear across their shared bedroom. "It's about time anyway, they need to know. Especially Chloe. It isn't always gonna be me that'll wake you up y'know. One day sooner or later another one of those aca-bitches is gonna come wake your horny ass up and find out your secret when they walk in on you having another one of those wet dreams about the co-cap. Better to come clean now the nice way than have someone find out the ugly way."

Beca groaned again and hid her burning face in her hands. "I know, Amy, believe me, I know."

"Then go down there and tell them!"

"Dude, no! What am I supposed to say? ' _Oh hey, guys, good morning. Can someone pass me a cup of coffee? Thanks. By the way, I'm hopelessly in love with Chloe and oh yeah, I've been having insanely hot and sexy dreams about her_?!'"

"I don't see the problem with that," Fat Amy said, and Beca peeks through her fingers to stare incredulously at her. "What? If you want something, be a man and just get it! What good will secrets and dancing around each other do?"

Beca opened her mouth to say _uhhh, the good being not taking the risk of destroying me and Chloe's friendship?_ but was interrupted before she could even get the first syllable out by CR's voice shouting at them to hurry the hell up before breakfast gets cold.

Fat Amy raised her eyebrows and pointed a finger at her in a clear message to _do it_ before yelling, "Coming! Give Beca a minute though, she just woke up from her ugly—'cause it sure ain't beauty—sleep!", back and standing up and dusting herself off as she walked out the door.

Beca flopped back onto her bed and brought an arm over her eyes, churning her friend's words over and over in her head.

She knew that Amy was right about it being only a matter of time before another one of the Bellas came into her room and walked in on her during one of her...sessions… and god knows what'll happen when they find out and what'll they say to Chloe.

Yeah, she needs to do something about that…

But there was just absolutely _no way_ that she was just going walk up to Chloe and tell her.

Just...no way.

Right?

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

Chloe's lips were soft and hot as they glided over Beca's, and Beca groaned as they stumbled through Chloe's bedroom door. Chloe spun them around and slammed Beca's back against the wood, and she didn't even register the pain or the dull thud as the door slammed shut as they kissed eagerly and repeatedly.

"We should've totally done this sooner," Chloe breathed as her mouth removed from Beca's in favor of kissing a path down her chin and jaw to her neck.

Beca's response was a short breathless laugh, and her hands flew up to grasp two loose fistfuls of red hair as Chloe pressed kiss after kiss down the column of her throat. One of her thighs was resting uncomfortably between Chloe's body and the hard wooden surface at her back, so she shifted it slightly to the right, unaware of the fact that its new position is between Chloe's legs, unaware that is, until the redhead cursed and buried her face in Beca's shoulder.

Beca smirked at this newfound conclusion and pressed her thigh closer, practically rubbing it against Chloe's jean shorts, and her amusement heightened when Chloe banged a fist against the wall next to them before lifting her head off Beca's shoulder to give her a heated glare.

"What's wrong, Beale?" Beca asked, quirking a brow and feeling her smirk grow just the tiniest bit wider, "Why're you looking at me like that?"

"Don't even, Beca," Chloe gritted out, her eyes narrowing, "I've waited too long for this for you to fucking tease me. Four years has been enough."

"Oh yeah?" Beca leaned her face closer to Chloe's, "Then I bet we have a _lot_ of time to make up for."

As their mouths met again and tongues traced parted lips and moans started to heat up the darkened room around them, Beca knew that this was a dream- because once again, they are going at it like horny teenagers before having _discussed_ about it, as what is inevitably going to happen _if_ the situation even comes up in real life- so she didn't even hesitate before fumbling with the zipper on Chloe's shorts and pulling Chloe's shirt over her head. They detached themselves from the door and laughed as they tripped over small knick knacks on the floor on the way to Chloe's bed.

Beca can feel the back of Chloe's knees bump into the foot of the full-sized bed, and she playfully shoved at the redhead's shoulder so they tumbled onto it, Beca on top and Chloe pulling her mouth away to yelp in surprise as she bounced once against the mattress. Beca grinned down at her, her necklace swinging back and forth against her collarbone as she closed one eye in a wink, in which Chloe responded with a raised eyebrow.

"Cocky tonight, aren't we?"

"You don't even _know_ what cocky means yet, Chlo," Beca snickered, before leaning down and reattaching her lips to hers.

* * *

A hand gently nudging her shoulder jolted Beca awake, and she jerked away from the contact even before fully opening her eyes. Seeing that she's facing the wall, Beca looked over her shoulder and almost screamed when Chloe blinked back at her from her seated spot on the edge of Beca's bed.

"Oh my God," Beca sputtered, her eyes widening. Her heart immediately started pounding a million beats per minute as she panicked, scrambling to grab the comforter up to her neck and trying to ignore the uncomfortable feeling as it slid against her bare sweaty legs.

 _Oh shit, oh shit, oh fucking_ _**shit.** _

Seeing Beca's panicked expression, Chloe's eyebrows furrowed in concern. "Hey, what's wrong?", she asked, reaching forward to tug down the sheet because Beca's face is red and she clearly looked hot and uncomfortable.

Beca about jumped a foot in the air in the haste to get herself as far from Chloe as she possibly can, but considering the size of her bed, there wasn't space for her _to_ move, so Beca settled on flattening herself as much as possible against the wall. She closed her eyes and breathed harshly and fruitlessly tried to control her erratic heartbeat. Clutching the comforter closer to her chest, she tried to reply as calmly as possible, "Nothing's wrong, Chloe. I'm fine, I'm totally fine."

But she was clearly not fine and it was evident that Chloe noticed because her next words were, "But Becs, you're red and sweating and-"

_Oh my fucking god; where is Fat Amy? Fucking jinxed me with the "sooner or lay-a" shit._

" _Chloe,"_ Beca snapped, opening her eyes just in time to see Chloe wince at her tone. "I'm _fine,_ okay? Can you just stop?"

Hurt flashed in Chloe's eyes and her hand faltered midair in its path to Beca's shoulder, and Beca felt a sudden pang of regret as she watched Chloe retreat her hand slowly and glance away, biting her lip nervously before muttering a soft, "okay."

Beca swallowed, her mind now torn between panicking at the thought of Chloe finding out about the stupid dreams and struggling for something to say to erase the wounded look on Chloe's face, "Look, I'm really sorry I snapped at you, I just-" Beca took a heaving breath and smiled tentatively when Chloe slowly met her gaze through her lashes, "I just need a minute, alright? You surprised me and I just need a minute to calm down."

Chloe searched her eyes for a long moment, during which Beca held her breath and prayed that whatever showed in them was convincing enough for Chloe to drop the subject and leave her alone. She silently let loose a huge sigh of relief through her nose when Chloe finally nodded slowly before pushing herself off the mattress and running a hand through her hair.

"Yeah, that's fine. You can have a minute, I...I'm sorry for surprising you. I just wanted to wake you up cuz rehearsal's starting soon and I couldn't find Fat Amy and everyone else is either taking a shower or eating breakfast and I didn't want you to rush to get ready. So...yeah, I'm gonna leave you to do whatever you have to do and I'll see you downstairs."

Beca gave a tight smile and small nod in understanding, watching intently as Chloe turned around and made for the door, her hands not loosening their death like grip on the comforter for even the tiniest bit until the door clicked quietly behind her. Once it finally did, though, Beca threw the thing off of her like it burned her fingers and buried her head in her hands, laughing humorlessly into it in shock and disbelief at what had just happened.

" _Fuck."_

* * *

Beca's acting very strange.

Chloe doesn't have the slightest clue as to why that is, but Beca was definitely acting very strange today, starting with her behavior towards her that morning in her room when she went to wake her up.

In all the years that they've known each other, Beca has never reacted that way—woken up to a panic and looked at her as if she'd seen a ghost and sweated like crazy as she flinched away from her—and she has never lied to her about being okay, and Chloe has never been more curious and determined as to find out why.

Especially when Beca had came down the stairs fifteen minutes after she did dressed in her usual flannel and jeans, completely ignoring her as she made a beeline across the opposite end of the kitchen towards Fat Amy—who had just came through the front door and explained sheepishly about being over at a "friend's" house before grabbing a plate of pancakes and digging into it at the kitchen table—and sat down heavily in the chair next to her. Chloe had watched over the rim of her coffee cup from her spot next to the stove as Beca hissed something in Amy's ear, causing the blonde to pause with her fork halfway to her mouth and widen her eyes in something like surprise and fear, before quickly glancing Chloe's way and saying something back to Beca out of the corner of her mouth. Beca had started to slide her eyes towards her as well, before seemingly catching herself and turning her body slightly so her hair covered the side of her face that was visible to Chloe, and Chloe had crossed her arms and gulped down the rest of her morning coffee while tapping a foot against the floor in interest over the whole exchange.

And later on—when everyone had finished with breakfast and Jessica and Ashley had helped Chloe with the dishes and clean up the table as well as several others—when Chloe had caught Beca dragging Fat Amy with her up to her room before dashing back down and out the door with her computer bag in tow and a huffing blonde on her heels and a hasty "see you guys at rehearsal" thrown over her shoulder.

And now, too—now that rehearsal for the upcoming performance was over, during which Beca refused to look at her in the eyes and barely said more than two words and didn't come within two feet of her unless absolutely necessary, and everyone was stretching and packing their things up to leave—when Beca seemed like in a hurry to leave once again, swerving around the Bellas and tripping over bags and slamming her laptop shut and shoving it in her bag, looking desperately at Fat Amy in a clear message to hurry up and accompany her out the door.

Chloe had to find out why.

"Hey, Becs," she called to her for the first time since that weird encounter that morning, and Beca froze in the act of zipping her bag shut, her eyes now widening at Fat Amy in panic.

"Yeah?" She croaked out, still not looking at her and clearing her throat to repeat the question when the previous one came out dry and scratchy. Chloe noticed her clutching the straps of her bag desperately, as if clinging to it for a lifeline, and her brows furrowed in confusion and concern as she placed her yellow Barden University cup down and took a step towards her.

"Do you have a moment? I need to talk to you about something," Chloe continued.

"I- uh…" Beca swallowed and Chloe wouldn't be surprised if her eyes popped out of her head and dropped and rolled on the floor with the way it's bulging out of its sockets. "I wish I do but I _really_ really need to go," she said, and Chloe can see the Bellas who haven't already left stop with what they're doing to watch the commotion unfold out of the corner of her eye.

But Chloe was not one to give up and she's _determined,_ damn it, and if she doesn't do something now, Beca was sure to disappear off somewhere and she might never get an opportunity like this one—as least not for the rest of the day, or heck, week, and she can't wait that long—to figure out what's going on and why Beca's acting so strange around her.

"I promise it won't take long, there's just one small problem I have to ask you about the song that we're gonna perform for the president next week." Chloe stopped in front of the table where Beca kept all of her music stuff for the Bellas and crossed her arms, casually jutting her hip to the side and staring Beca down, refusing to feel guilty about the tiny white lie and silently willing the stubborn brunette to look at her. She also hoped that her question was innocent and believable enough so the Bellas—don't get her wrong, she loved them all to death, particularly the witty, sarcastic, caring, talented, and stubborn as all heck girl in front of her, but they can all get just a _tad_ bit nosy sometimes and tend to blow things out of proportion, and Chloe gets a feeling that whatever is going on with Beca is not meant for everyone to share, not yet—won't suspect anything out of order and will continue to file out of the rehearsal room to leave the "small problem" to the captains to fix.

Thankfully Chloe's hopes were answered and one by one, the Bellas shrugged and breezed out the door, giggling and chattering amongst themselves about their plans for the rest of the day. Chloe did a mental count at the number of times the door creaked, signalling each girl's departure, because she refused to take her stare off Beca while simultaneously wanting to make sure they were completely alone before asking what she _really_ wanted to ask.

_One, two, three...four and five, six…_

"You alright there, Shawshank?" Fat Amy's voice penetrated Chloe's concentration, and she clenched a fist and huffed out a frustrated breath in an attempt to withhold her sudden desire to snap at the blonde who had stuck to Beca's side all freaking day like glue. "Want me to stay?"

Beca's eyes finally snapped to Chloe's at that, and she had to squash the stupid butterflies fluttering in her stomach at the intensity of those stormy blues. Beca opened her mouth, presumably to take Amy's out, and Chloe squashed down a bubble of fear along with those butterflies—because Beca was one of the only people in the world who can see right through her, right alongside Aubrey, and she needs Beca convinced that she really was just going to ask a harmless question about their next performance too in order for her to let down her guard and lose her metaphoric _and_ physical body shield—and raised her chin and eyebrows in confidence and challenge.

Beca hesitated, unmoving, and Chloe held firmly to her determination as the seconds crawled past. She stared at her, and Beca stared right back, and the silence between them was enough for a pin drop to be heard. It wasn't until Chloe took a risk and tilted her head slightly to the right—it was a gesture that Aubrey once told her she tended to do whenever a bout of curiosity hits her and she's pondering or waiting to ask an innocuous question—that Beca finally blinked and quickly shook her head, before muttering, "No, you don't need to stay, Ames. I'll be done in just a sec."

It took everything that Chloe had to not smirk in victory.

"Eh, I'll get going then. I need to get something to eat; all that vertical running and dancing had worked up an appetite," Fat Amy said, before she, too, walked out.

Leaving them blissfully alone.

"So…," Beca said, clearing her throat once more, and Chloe suspected this time it's out of nerves and not out of necessity. "You got your moment, what is it that you want to talk about?"

"A problem," Chloe replied, slowly making her way around the edge of the table.

Beca's lips clamped tightly shut and twisted to the side and she finally lets go of the computer bag to tuck a strand of her hair anxiously behind her ear. "About the song?"

Unable to hold it in any longer, Chloe smirked. "No," she whispered, and she chuckled softly at the _oh shit_ look on Beca's face. It was the epitome of the cliche phrase, "deer in headlights" and Chloe can't help but find it utterly adorable.

She had the sudden urge to kiss Beca all over.

_Pull it together, Beale._

Trying the best to ignore her stupid racing heart, Chloe stepped closer, making Beca step back and eventually ending them up against a wall. "No, it's not about the song; the song's all good. I want to talk about a problem about you."

"What?" Beca squeaked out. "What do you mean, you want to talk about a problem about me; there's not a problem with me; I don't have a problem."

Chloe laughed and shook her head at Beca's rambling. "Oh really? Then why did you avoid me all day today? Why did you have Fat Amy by your side since the moment you came down from your bedroom this morning, even going so far as to take her with you to the restroom?"

"That's because…," Beca glanced frantically around the room, flattening herself against the wall in much of the same way as she did earlier that day, "Because...I really wanted to spend the day with her today," she finished, and with the way her nose scrunched, Chloe could tell that even she knew it was a lame excuse.

Chloe leaned in and narrowed her eyes playfully, "You're a terrible liar, Beca."

"Okay...maybe I do have a problem. But that doesn't mean I have to tell you."

"Yeah, well, I'm not letting you go until you tell me, so…" Chloe retorted, leaning back—but just enough so her body is still caging Beca's in, so Beca knew that she's making good on her promise—and feigning a look of nonchalance as she studied her fingernails. She hummed softly and tapped her foot to the number of seconds Beca took before inevitably letting out a loud groan of defeat.

_Eight._

"Fine, Chloe, fine. You really want to know what my problem is? My _problem_ is that I have been having stupid fucking dreams about you for the past couple of months and they're the kind of stupid fucking dreams that I'm scared to tell you about because I just _know_ that once I do tell you, we're gonna get awkward and weird about it. Happy now?"

* * *


	4. Chapter 4

It has been four hours since the incident in the rehearsal room and Beca is officially losing her mind.

After which she had been pushed against a wall and forced to admit that she had been having wildly inappropriate dreams about her best friend _by_ and _to_ her best friend, she had ran home and pulled the Bellas who had opted to spend the rest of the day hanging around the house aside to fill them in as well, because if Chloe knows, then what's the point of keeping it from everyone else?

At least now she had more people aware of her predicament and more people to stop Chloe from barging into her room whenever she gets back to try and have a conversation with her before she was ready.

Even if it was at the cost of incessant teasing and complete and utter mortification.

"Ha, I knew it," Stacie had grinned triumphantly, her eyes twinkling with mischief, "I knew there was something going on with you for these past couple months; you have been turning more red and fidgety than usual lately whenever she's comes to give you a hug or kiss, and have been starting to look away from her whenever you could when you would normally stare at her all day long until your eyes practically bleed."

"Yeah, I'd suspected something's up too, but dang, Beca, didn't expect it to be something like this," Cynthia Rose had said, thumping a hand on her back.

"It's about time," Flo's smile was borderline catlike and Beca had briefly wished that she hadn't recruited the Guatemalan as a Bella as her face burned hotly right in the middle of the kitchen, "It's about time that you find out that you want to have sex with the co-captain."

"Whatever, guys. Look, can you just make sure that Chloe doesn't come to my room whenever she gets back? She's gonna try to talk to me about the whole stupid thing, and right now I'm just not ready, so can you guys please just tell her that I want her to go away and that I don't want to talk about it?" Beca had pushed down the urge to dig herself a hole right there on the floor and crawl inside and die, and her voice was pleading and desperate as her gaze flitted from one of her friends' faces to the other.

"But Beca, you have to know that Chloe—" Stacie had started, but cut herself off at the pained sound Beca made at the mention of her name. She then exchanged a look with Cynthia Rose that conveyed a whole lot of meaning that Beca couldn't quite understand, but before she could ask her what it was about, Stacie had turned her head back to her and slowly nodded her agreement.

And Beca had not wasted any more time after that bolting upstairs to her room and slamming and locking her door shut behind her, throwing her laptop bag onto her desk and drowning herself into her music to withhold the panic and anxiety threatening to spill over as the memories of the nerve-wracking exchange not fifteen minutes ago flashed before her mind.

It was in that position that she had stayed for the next three hours, headphones in her ears and fingers flying over her keys and lips passing up the Bellas' offer to go out for dinner, and it was in that position that she had heard Chloe's voice ring through the house shortly after the sun had set, and she had stood up from the chair that she had been sitting on and shut the lid to her laptop and pulled the headphones away from around her neck, proceeding to spend the next hour pacing the length of her bedroom as she listened to the sound of Chloe talking to Stacie and Cynthia Rose and Fat Amy downstairs.

She hadn't been able to make out the exact words that had been exchanged, but even from one floor away she could hear the distress in Chloe's voice, and she had kicked at her bedpost in frustration at her inability to dash down the stairs and give in to her best friend's obvious _need_ to speak to her. Minutes agonizingly ticked past, and Beca clutched at her hair in an attempt to dull the pounding in her head as her feet carried her back and forth and back again on the carpeted floor beneath her.

Damn it, she should've known better. She should've known better to believe the innocence in those baby blue eyes, should've known better to believe that Chloe was actually going to ask a question about the set and not about what had transpired between them earlier that morning. She should've known better to actually believe that Chloe would just shrug off her admittingly strange and _very_ obvious behavior and should've known better to have let down her guard instead of followed her instincts and taken Amy's out and fleeing from the scene, cowardice and dejected redhead be damned.

At least if she would have fled, she wouldn't have spilled her secret, wouldn't be worrying about the fact that her best friend now _knows._

At least she wouldn't be panicking about how the best thing that ever happened to her is soon going to be ruined—if it isn't already—and about how it is all going to be her own fault, because who in their right mind can just _ignore_ what she had confessed and and brush it off as if it was nothing?

Footsteps on the stairs now break Beca out of her thoughts, and she freezes at the foot of her bed halfway on her pace towards her closet, and whirls around to stare at the door as her heart pounds with each thump that can be heard on the wooden steps. She wishes, _prays,_ that the footsteps does not belong to Chloe, but—as if her ears wants to punish her ahead of time for destroying her friendship with the one person in the world who _gets_ her—she can _hear_ the absence of Chloe's voice in the house, and her wishes and prayers dissolves into curses at whatever is up there for her dreaded misfortune as the footsteps on the stairs gradually fades away.

A shadow appears in the crack under her door and Beca waits with bated breath, silently willing Chloe to go away, her hopes rising when there is a slight pause but instantly crashing back down when a soft knock breaks through the tension in the darkened room, followed by a tentative plea,

"Beca? Can I please come in? I'm sorry—so _so_ sorry—for what I did back in the rehearsal room; I shouldn't have pushed you like that and I totally understand if you now hate me for it, but please, Becs, please open the door..."

* * *

" _Happy now?"_

 _The question hangs in the air between them, and even though she can feel the embarrassment and the what-the-hell-did-I-just-do climbing up her neck, Beca refuses to acknowledge it as she raises an eyebrow challengingly up at the shocked expression on Chloe's face. Her blood boils in anger and exasperation at the whole situation, at the woman in front of her for causing the whole situation, and at herself for being naïve enough,_ stupid _enough, for getting herself_ into _the whole situation, and her hands clench themselves into tight fists against the wall behind her in an effort to keep her emotions at bay.  
_

 _But even still—even though her pulse is ticking wildly in panic and she's lightheaded from the lack of blood flow into her brain and her entire_ being _is screaming at her to get herself out_ _of this godforsaken hot and stifling place—even still, Beca waits with sweat-inducing anticipation for Chloe's reply._

 _"What?"_ _Her voice is barely above a whisper, and if Beca had not been literally two inches from Chloe's face, she would not have heard it. "What did you say?"_

_It is the complete disbelief in her response and the small but clearly amused laugh that accompanies it that did her in, and Beca swears that her heart screeches to a complete stop._

_"I said-" she hears herself grit out through her teeth, suddenly feeling hollow, "move."_

_And when the woman in front of her did nothing more than continue to gape at her with that frozen incredulous look in her blue eyes that_ tears _at something deep inside her, Beca pushes at the leg that's trapping her in against the wall and brushes past, ignoring the sting behind her eyelids and the burn in her nose as her hands reach for the laptop bag waiting for her on the table._

_"Beca-"_

_"Look," she says, cutting her off, because if Chloe asks her to repeat her confession and then explains to her that she's really flattered and all about being the object of her fantasies but that she just doesn't like her that way, she_ will _break down, and Beca effing Mitchell will not_ _break down and_ _cry in_ _front of Chloe Beale, especially over something like this, "Look, Chloe, just forget I said anything okay? Let's just forget about it and pretend like nothing has happened and move on."_

_"But I—I don't think I can do that."_

_Beca pauses momentarily in the act of shouldering her bag, her back to Chloe and her chest tightening in pain, and she closes her eyes because her vision is starting to blur and damn it, she will_ not _cry_. _She forces out a laugh and tilts her head up to the ceiling, choking out a strained, "Then I guess the awkwardness and weirdness is going to start very soon," before lifting a hand in the air in a dismissive wave and continuing on the way towards the long-awaited exit._

_"Wait, no, Bec, that's not what I meant-", Chloe voice calls out to her from across the room._

_But she was too late, because Beca is already gone._

* * *

Beca seriously considers pretending that she's either asleep or unavailable to open the door, but her heart seems to stick a middle finger to her brain and pull at her and so the next thing she knows, she's stumbling forward and twisting the lock and staring up into the face of the desperate redhead on the other side.

Chloe seems to breathe a huge sigh of relief at the sight of her, closing her eyes for a brief second before snapping them back open, "Thank you."

Beca shakes her head and opens her mouth, about to tell Chloe that she is just opening the door to tell her personally that she is really not in the mood to go over everything that has happened that day, when she is distracted by a sudden movement from down the hall. She slides her gaze over, catching sight of Stacie and Fat Amy ducking their heads below the top of the stairs, and frowns, because as much as she would rather not have Chloe tell her that their friendship is over today or at any time in the near future, the prospect of her friends spying on them while she shuts the door in Chloe's face sounds possibly far less appealing. So she peels her eyes away and gives a tiny nod and opens the door wider to allow Chloe entrance.

Chloe steps over the threshold and shuffles into the room, stopping to face her in front of the window. Beca closes and locks the door behind Chloe and takes a moment to compose herself for whatever was about to come before turning to face her as well.

There is a pause as the two take a minute to look at each other, Beca taking in Chloe's pale face and exhausted stature and Chloe taking in her rumpled clothes and messy hair, before they both start to talk at the same time,

"I shouldn't have-"

"I don't-"

Chloe lets out a nervous laugh and gestures for Beca to continue, and Beca tries not to stare at the way the evening light filtering through the window casts faint shadows across Chloe's cheeks, "I don't think you should be the one to assume that I would hate you when I'm the one having dreams about you, Chloe."

Beca watches as Chloe sucks in a sharp breath at that statement, her heart starting to pound with dread as she waits for her reply, "If you're asking if I hate you for dreaming about me, Beca, I don't."

Well, that was certainly not what she had expected.

"What?", she exclaims with incredulity, "But I just told you that one of your best friends have been dreaming about you in a way that best friends should not be dreaming about each other for the past two months!"

Chloe eyes her from underneath her lashes, "Believe me, I know that."

"And...what? You're just okay with it?", she asks, looking at Chloe as if she had lost her mind.

"Yes, actually. In fact, the only thing that I might _not_ be okay with is the fact that you have not told me about it till today," Chloe replies, biting her lip.

Beca gapes, certain that she had not heard her right, "But back at the rehearsal room you told me that you couldn't move past the whole thing with me as friends."

"I did, and if you would've given me a chance to explain past that sentence, you would've known that what I meant is that I couldn't move past the whole thing with you as friends because I want to move past it with you as something more."

No, there's no way that Chloe is indicating what she thinks she's indicating; there's no way that she could possibly...

"Why'd you laugh at me?", she suddenly demands, completely bypassing Chloe's invitation to delve further into _that_ subject because her knees are already growing weak and she needs to be sure—one hundred and ten percent sure—before getting her hopes up over a tiny suggestive blip like this just to have it crash back down in realization that she is reading too much into something that was just not there, not after all this time and not after the emotional roller coaster that had been that day, "When I told you, you asked me to repeat what I said, and then you laughed. Why?"

"Oh, Beca," Chloe says, reaching for her, but Beca jerks back and puts out a hand, shaking her head no. She sighs sadly and retracts her own hand to push it through her red hair, "That was just me laughing to myself at the irony and stupidity at the whole situation. Don't you get it? I love you, Beca—yes, all those times when I told you I love you was all for real, I hadn't been joking around—I love you and have been in love with you for so long and all this time I've been thinking to myself that there was no way that you would want anything more than friendship with me and then out of nowhere you tell me that you have inappropriate dreams about me and have been for the past couple months? And that you were scared about telling me about it because you were scared that I would take it the wrong way and get awkward and uncomfortable when that's the last thing I would be? Yeah, that was just me finding the whole situation funny at the time and me laughing to myself."

Beca's jaw seems to have unhinged entirely from her face, and she stumbles blindly to her desk chair because she can feel her knees start to give out and her room start to spin.

She couldn't believe it; Chloe—her best friend, passionate and kind and vibrant and bubbly and caring and smart and beautiful and hot and way out of her league and once in a lifetime Chloe effing Beale—loves her and apparently have been for some time and she had been too blind and in denial to see it and god, they could've saved _so_ much time.

"It's okay if you don't love me back, you know, I just wanted to get that part out because you were asking about why I was laughing back there and that was the whole reason and I didn't want to lie anymore and I didn't want you to think that I was laughing at _you_ and you just looked so sad and-"

"I love you too, Chloe," Beca says, cutting off Chloe's ramble, because she completely forgot to get that out amidst the whole not getting her hopes up and needing to be one hundred and ten percent sure and _holy shit Chloe effing Beale actually feels the same way_ business. She looks up from her hands in her lap in her chair and couldn't hold back a smile from forming on her lips at the sight of the dazzling beam on the redhead's face.

"You do?", Chloe breathes, taking the few steps from her spot in front of the window to stand in front of her.

Beca laughs at the uncontained excitement in just those two words, and god, did it feel good to finally have her heart jump with happiness instead of panic. "Uh huh," she nods, taking one of Chloe's hands in one of hers and running a thumb along its surface, "I do."

Chloe squeals and bounces up and down, and Beca rolls her eyes affectionately and stands, dropping Chloe's hand in favor of wrapping her arms around Chloe's neck to pull her in for a kiss, effectively shutting her up.

Chloe immediately kisses her back, placing her hands on Beca's waist and pressing herself closer as Beca stands on her tiptoes to properly slant her mouth over hers. The kiss is light and chaste, and Beca grins when she pulls back, raising an eyebrow at the way Chloe's eyes flutter open and the way a small pink tinge appears across her cheeks.

"I love you so much, Chlo. All those times when I told you that you're a weirdo when you told me that you love me was because I didn't allow myself to take you seriously, was because I was already in too deep to let myself say those words back without its true meaning," she says, feeling a massive weight lift off her chest at finally having those words spoken aloud.

"You mean more than friends?" Chloe asks, nuzzling against her nose.

Beca smirks and pushes her hands from around Chloe's neck up into red hair as she leans forward to whisper in her ear, "I think me dreaming about having sex with you and then getting myself off afterwards is a pretty good indication that I love you, want you, and _need_ you, more than just friends, Beale. Don't you?"

Beca can feel Chloe's entire body shudder at her words, can feel the hands at her waist bunch into the material of her shirt, can feel the huff of titillation flutter against her neck as Chloe swiftly turns her head to the side to connect their mouths once again before she is fully able to lean away. Her chuckle of surprise at the sudden movement is abruptly cut off as Chloe scrapes at her bottom lip with her teeth, and she gasps, fisting her hands further into Chloe's hair to pull her closer.

"I think—" Chloe mumbles out against her lips, and Beca can already feel herself getting addicted to the feeling of having her breath mingling with hers, "That we should stop talking about you dreaming about having sex with me and actually do it."

Beca's mouth drops open at the suggestion, and Chloe takes advantage of the opportunity to brush their tongues together, and now Beca's _really_ unable to speak or breathe or think because _fuck,_ her lips are so soft and her tongue is so warm and her breath is so sweet, and Chloe wants to actually have sex with her and she can finally know what that is like without telling herself that it is okay to fantasize about it and then—more often than not—feeling guilty about it afterwards.

Chloe spins them around and walks them to Beca's bed, and Beca's thinking that it's a good thing that she had cleaned her room last night and that she had been too glued to her laptop since earlier that afternoon to bother changing her clothes or really do anything to mess it up, because she is certain that with the way that she's blindly stepping backwards and Chloe urgently pushing her forwards and both of them too engrossed in kissing the other to bother looking at where they're going, if there had been something in their path, one or both of them would have definitely tripped over it and ended up on the floor with the beginnings of a bruise.

 _But then again,_ she thinks, as the back of her knees bump into the side of her bed, both of them tumbling onto the mattress and Chloe bending down to straddle her hips, _Then again, a bruise would totally be worth it._

"I'm sorry for pushing you to tell me why you were avoiding me back in the rehearsal room and for lying and threatening to not let you leave," Chloe says, giving her one last kiss before pulling away, her eyes dark and hooded as her fingers worked to rid Beca of her clothing.

"And I'm sorry for not giving you a chance to explain and for running and not telling you about everything sooner," Beca murmurs back, helping Chloe with her flannel and then her tank top, watching her toss both aside before settling back atop the sheets.

Chloe drops her gaze to Beca's chest and bites her lip, tracing a finger over the tops of her breasts swelling over her bra, "I want to say that it's fine, but I'd be lying if I tell you that I didn't kinda wish you hadn't, because I did, because then we could've saved a lot of time and totally done this sooner."

Beca shivers at the sensation and at the implication of Chloe's words, her voice coming out trembling, "I was just so scared, Chlo, I—"

Chloe uses her free hand to place a finger to Beca's lips to silence her, "I know, Becs, I know." Then she gives her a soft and loving smile and purrs, "Let me show you why you didn't have to be."

Before Beca could fully get past the sudden ringing in her ears and the lump in her throat, Chloe had already undressed herself and was pressing a line of hot and wet kisses down the column of her neck, her tongue licking at her pulse point and her hips rocking against her stomach, and her hands were tugging at the zipper of Beca's jeans.

Beca arches off the bed enough for Chloe to pull her jeans and underwear off of her, her own hands reaching behind her back for the clasp of her bra, and she tosses the material to somewhere in the room where she'll find and deal with later before tangling her fingers back in Chloe's hair to pull back her up for a kiss.

Their mouths fit together easily, one of Beca's lips caught between two of Chloe's, and she's moaning as Chloe licks against her tongue and Chloe's sighing as their bare bodies slide against one another. She can feel a hand ghost the outside of her left breast, down the side of her torso, trace the dip of her hip, and then her heart's trying to pound outside of her chest and her brain's trying to shut down as Chloe reaches the apex of her thighs and presses a thumb to her clit.

Beca jerks against the mattress, one of her hands leaving Chloe's hair to fist the sheets, and she pulls her mouth away and gasps because it's too much and too soon and _fuck,_ she's not going to last long.

Chloe marvels at how wet she is, and she chokes out a laugh because _duh_ , and she can literally feel it and it's ridiculous and if Chloe doesn't hurry up, she's going to explode very _very_ soon.

Beca watches through heavy eyelids as Chloe adjusts herself to lean comfortably on her elbow, and keens when she feels fingers drag slowly and sensually through her folds, the thumb on her clit now moving in tight and lazy circles. Her hips buck of their own accord in search of more friction and her chest heaves, and she's staring into baby blue eyes shadowed with desire and passion and gazing at her back with intensity and love and pleasure—as if _she's_ the one moaning and writhing on the mattress, as if _she's_ the one with two fingers twisting and curling inside of her, as _she's_ the one in desperate need of air and relief to tend to the raging fire taking over her entire body—and she's surging forward to bury her face into the crook of Chloe's neck and cursing against the warm and smooth skin there.

And then Chloe's breathing, "Come for me, Becs," into her ear, and her vanilla candy perfume is overwhelming her and her red hair is slipping through her fingers and she's waited four long years for this and holy shit, this is real, this is actually happening, and she's seeing blinding white light and gasping her name over and over.

Beca feels Chloe rain kisses down and all over her face and feels her fingers gradually slow down their pace until they stop and pull out entirely, and she groans slightly at the loss of contact as she waits for her body to come down from her high. Chloe giggles at her reaction and reaches up to brush her sweaty hair away from her face, carefully laying her body back down and pressing her lips to the furrow of her brows.

As soon as her heart had returned to its normal pace and she could find the energy within her to move, Beca wraps her legs around Chloe's waist and flips them, grinning wickedly at her surprised yelp. "My turn," she says, winking at the redhead now beneath her.

And after—after which Beca had Chloe unraveled completely into a panting and whimpering mess atop the sheets—she wipes her mouth on the back of her hand and crawls up the bed, settling onto her back and reaching over to scoop Chloe into an embrace, pressing a kiss to the back of her neck as she listens to the sound of her labored breathing.

A peaceful silence descends upon the room, and Beca draws absent patterns on the skin of Chloe's stomach, perfectly content lying in bed with the woman she loves right there in her arms. Her eyes stray to the ceiling, noticing how dark her room had become, and she wraps herself tighter around Chloe to scoot them both towards her lamp, turning it on, the light illuminating the flaming red hair in front of her face.

Chloe plays with one of Beca's hands and hums, and she can feel the vibrations from the tips of her fingers to the ends of her toes, "I'm kinda jealous, you know."

Beca raises her eyebrows at the absurdity of the statement, "About what?"

Chloe turns her head to look up at her, her blue eyes wide and her pink lips drawn out in a pout, "About how dream me had sex with you before real me."

God, she's adorable...

"Oh really?", she asks with a smirk, "You're really telling me you're jealous that _you_ had sex with me before _you_ did?"

"Yep."

Beca's smirk widens into a full on grin as she replies, "What if I tell you that what we did just now was better than what we did in all the dreams that I have had combined?"

Chloe's nose scrunches at the thought, and Beca gives in to the sudden but strong desire to kiss it, "That doesn't change the fact that she got to kiss you before I could and that she got to touch you like I have wanted to for a long time before I could be able to."

Beca finds it highly amusing that Chloe's referring to her dream self as a completely different person, a person she feels the need to compete with for her affections, "But I would much rather have sex with real you than dream you. Doesn't that account for anything?"

"No," she replies with a roll of her eyes, but Beca can tell that she's trying really hard to hold back a giggle.

"No? Then how about this—", she says, deliberately dropping her voice by several octaves, her teeth grazing at the shell of her ear, "I never told dream Chloe that I love her as I did with real Chloe."

Chloe instantly spins around in her arms, and Beca bites back a groan as every one of Chloe's curves is once again flush against her skin, "Never?"

"Never," she answers, and it's the truth, because every time she dreams of her, of _them,_ she had known that it's not real, that _they're_ not real, and that she had wanted to save those three meaningful words for when—and _only_ when—they are.

Chloe's smile stretches from ear to ear, her happy beam only seeming to glow brighter in the lamplight, and Beca is thinking and deciding that she loves reality.

She loves it because it isn't like music.

Because it isn't like anything that she had expected.

Because—above everything else—it is freaking unreal.

* * *


End file.
